When The Numbers End

The Stone

         He made his way through the alleys with feline grace. He reached his destination and hid in the shadows to prevent any unwanted attention. He had one hand holding his prized hunting dagger and the other he used to keep the stone in his pocket safe. His hands started turning slick with sweat, he knows what he has to do tonight to make sure he walks back home with the stone in his hand. He was to meet her here 5 minutes ago.

...

          She saw him there, in the shadows. He planned the meeting to have taken place 5 minutes ago. She need that stone from him, it could give her extra years if she used it carefully. Pulling out her knife, she aimed not to kill him but to temporarily immobilize him so that she can take what is rightfully hers. She threw her knife with perfect accuracy at his leg and ran towards him, reaching for the stone.

…

         He buckled in pain and fell hitting his head on the stone wall of the building. How did she get there?? Slipping in and out of consciousness he vaguely felt her digging into his pocket and taking his stone. As he saw her figure walking away,  he could have sworn he heard a chuckle.

….

       I sat up with a jolt as my alarm clock beeped marking 7 o'clock AM. Though sleep still hovered over my senses like a blanket due to my late night last night, I sat up to start my day. I went to open the window next to my bed to see what the weather was going to be like today. Standing in front of the open window I could feel the warm spring air on my face and breathed it in. Walking away from the window, I started getting dressed for school and looked in the mirror. Standing in front of me is a girl in her usual white button down shirt, flowy pleated skirt, white sneakers and a 2 on her arm. The number on everyone's arm is given to them at birth, it is how many days are left until their death. Everyone my age has at least 300,000 days left but I was born with a rare disease that stole more than half of my life. The government said that this new technology is going to make you more aware of time and how invaluable it is. I just see it as a curse mandated by the evil demons that call themselves politicians. How worthless it would be for me to go to school today with only 2 days left! I slumped back into bed and was unconscious before my head hit the pillow.

       I am sitting on a tree trunk that had to be thousands of years old with its brown, rotting exterior. Trying to look around, I realize that I am surrounded by a thick, green fog that is blinding me. Through the fog I hear a distant scream  and I start blindly heading towards it. I feel drawn to the scream by some alien force and my unyielding curiosity. I start running steadily towards it. The closer I get, the clearer it is that there are two people at the scene; one standing over the other. I am finally close enough now to see them clearly through the fog and the figure standing, possibly torturing the other person, fled.  I knelt down next to the stranger on the ground and when she looked up at me, I didn't see a stranger crumpled and broken, I saw myself.

          It was just a dream. It was just a dream. I am shaking and sweating, I know it was a dream but it felt so real. I look down at my wrist and see a black 1 tormenting me. One more day. How did life pass me by so fast? I must have slept through yesterday. I scratched my neck and realized that my itchy uniform was still on and changed into a casual pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. I put my blue hair into a messy bun and put blue contacts in over my gold glittering eyes. I hate that my natural hair and eye color don't match as everyones’ should. My mom told me this was because of the disease I had when I was young. I've seen the blurry pictures of myself from before the disease and I could swear I had gold eyes even then. No one knows about my gold eyes besides for my mom and I don't intend on telling anyone about them either.

      I head out of the house to take my dog Marshmallow on a walk. Marshmallow is a  small brown and white lazy pug. I put on her a blue leash, grabbed a frisbee and practically dragged Marshmallow out the door. Once we got outside she got up and started walking on her own. Today is a particularly warm spring day with the sun right over our heads, perfect day for the park. We start making our way there and within a few minutes we found ourselves sitting in the shade of the oldest tree in the park. This tree is said to hold magic but the only magic I believe still exists in this world is hidden in the stone carefully tucked away under my pillow. From where I am sitting I throw the frisbee but Marshmallow just stays lying contently next to me. Seeing that she is not going to go after it, I begrudgingly get up and walk in the approximate direction that I threw it. After spotting it, I went to bend down to grab it when something small and furry raced towards the frisbee and grabbed it before I could. Standing up straight, I see Marshmallow panting in front of me, proud of her little win. After a few more rounds of me tossing the frisbee and her retrieving it, I grabbed her leash and we started heading back home.

         Back at home I started thinking that even though the number 1 on my arm means that I am going to come face to face death tomorrow, I can't bring myself to believe it; this stone has to help my chances of getting through the day. There have been instances when the numbers have been off by a day or two even without the stone. Some people were lucky enough to outlive their numbers by years. Even though those cases are too rare to even dream for myself, I still do. I have so much that I still want to accomplish, there are so many places I want to go and people that I want to meet. After I graduate high school, my life goal is to become the royal Captain of the Guard. Serving the king and queen have always been my dream. As the Captain of the Guard I would be able to do just that while commanding the military security forces. I just can not picture myself not waking up tomorrow morning. I force the thought out of my head. No, this is not going to be my last day. But even as I dreamt of that final wish, I started dreading the morning. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

…

          It has been one day without my stone and I'm already feeling the effects of the lost time. I know where she lives because I have trailed her to her house many times before. I find a house in the shadows for myself every night and don't rely on the same corner to shelter me for long. About a week ago, while I was scavenging the streets for food and a place to stay for the night, I saw her walking and was immediately drawn to her. I started following her to her home. Limping there now, I find that she left her window slightly cracked open. Making sure she was sleeping first, I cracked the window open further and slid into her room.

…

        She woke up suddenly, sensing another presence in her room. She gasped seeing a man looking through her dressers, she knows this man, he was the one she took the stone from.

...

          He saw she was awake, but he couldn't leave now, he had to get the stone back. He knew he had to silence her before she could call for any kind of help so he strangled, and killed her. He then found the stone under her pillow and sneaked back out the window. He knows that she was meant to die overnight anyway because of her number, so no one would ever raise any suspicions about her death or accuse him of being responsible for it.

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